In patent application Ser. No. 09/127,502 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,104) we disclose the following: Many security documents are still designed largely by hand. A designer works at a drafting table or computer workstation, and spends many hours laying-out minute (e.g. 5 mm×5 mm) excerpts of the design. To aid integration of watermark and/or calibration pattern data in this process, an accessory layout grid can be provided, identifying the watermark “bias” (e.g. −3 to +3) that is to be included in each 250 micron cell of the security document. If the accessory grid indicates that the luminance should be slightly increased in a cell (e.g. 1%), the designer can take this bias in mind when defining the composition of the cell and include a touch less ink than might otherwise be included. Similarly, if the accessory grid indicates that the luminance should be somewhat strongly increased in a cell (e.g. 5%), the designer can again bear this in mind and try to include more ink than might otherwise be included. Due to the substantial redundancy of most watermark encoding techniques, strict compliance by the designer to these guidelines is not required. Even loose compliance can result in artwork that requires little, if any, further modification to reliably convey watermark and/or calibration information.
Such “designing-in” of embedded information in security documents is facilitated by the number of arbitrary design choices made by security document designers. A few examples from U.S. banknotes include the curls in the presidents' hair, the drape of clothing, the clouds in the skies, the shrubbery in the landscaping, the bricks in the pyramid, the fill patterns in the lettering, and the great number of arbitrary guilloche patterns and other fanciful designs, etc. All include curves, folds, wrinkles, shadow effects, etc., about which the designer has wide discretion in selecting local luminance, etc. Instead of making such choices arbitrarily, the designer can make these choices deliberately so as to serve an informational—as well as an aesthetic—function.
To further aid the security document designer, data defining several different information-carrying patterns (both watermark and/or calibration pattern) can be stored on mass storage of a computer workstation and serve as a library of design elements for future designs. The same user-interface techniques that are employed to pick colors in image-editing software (e.g. Adobe Photoshop) and fill textures in presentation programs (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint) can similarly be used to present a palette of information patterns to a security document designer. Clicking on a visual representation of the desired pattern makes the pattern available for inclusion in a security document being designed (e.g. filling a desired area).
In the embodiment earlier-described, the calibration pattern is printed as a visible artistic element of the security document. However, the same calibration effect can be provided subliminally if desired. That is, instead of generating artwork mimicking the gray-scale pattern of the reference calibration block, the reference calibration block can itself be encoded into the security document as small changes in local luminance. In many such embodiments, the bias to localized document luminance due to the calibration pattern is simply added to the bias due to the watermark data, and encoded like the watermark data (e.g. as localized changes to the width or position of component line-art lines, as inserted ink droplets, etc.).
The present invention continues and improves these inventive ideas. According to one aspect of the present invention, an identification document includes a security enhancer (e.g., perhaps hidden in line art, artwork or graphic designs). The security enhancer includes a grouping of concentric circles. The concentric circles share a common center, and each circle is equally spaced from one another by a spacing distance d. Personal information carried by the identification document (e.g., driver's license number, birth date, photograph, biometric information, name or address, etc., etc.) is reduced by a hash algorithm. The result of the hash algorithm is a number. The number forms the spacing distance d for the grouping of concentric circles—personalizing the security enhancer to the cardholder. The identification document is printed to include the customized security enhancer.
The repetitive spacing distance d of the plurality of concentric circles in a spatial domain has an identifiable frequency response in a frequency domain. In particular, the corresponding frequency domain response includes a circle with a radius that is indirectly related to the spacing distance d. The frequency domain response (or frequency domain radius) can be evaluated to determine a counterfeit or forgery.
Banknotes, security documents, deeds, legal instruments, etc. can be similarly marked.
Other aspect of the invention utilizes a security enhancer for document identification or classification. A security enhancer's frequency characteristics are compared against expected characteristics to identify or classify the document.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.